Meet Steve Hoover | Inventor / Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Steve Hoover and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Steve, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Hi! My name is Steve Hoover and I am the inventor/founder/owner of the HomeStrong Fitness System. I’d like to share the story of how and why I developed this all-new home gym system, but before I start I would like to share a bit of a back story. I was always active as a kid and through my twenties, playing various sports in school and soccer and softball as a young adult and, as a typical Arizona kid, actively rode dirtbikes and loved being out in the Arizona desert. Through that period it was pretty “easy” for me to stay in reasonably good shape. Fast forward ten or fifteen years and I was starting a family and was an owner of a very prominent landscape contracting company and all that fun, active lifestyle went by the wayside. I was working extremely long hours, eating out of convenience versys with a healthful mindset, and found myself overweight and out of shape. It was right at this time when my beautiful wife (who always found time to exercise and stay in great shape – yes, there is some personal guilt therein) just had our first child, my beautiful baby girl. As most new fathers tend to do I began to take inventory of the things that are most important to me so that I can provide the best environment for my new family. I checked items off the list, i.e. business is good, relationship is great, spiritually and emotionally – eh’ not bad but a good work in progress, but then I looked at myself physically and was extremely disappointed with what I saw. This was not the strong protector and role model I wanted to portray to my children. So I decided to take action and did the usual of joining the gym down the street. I started off with a bang, and then it tapered off. Heck! The business didn’t slow down, I had a new baby which was amazing and very time intensive AND I was expecting myself to fit in time to go to the gym. It was tough but after a while, I committed to getting up extra early (remember, I was in landscaping which starts at dawn so early means like 4 AM!) and got into a pretty regular routine and started seeing results. Then we had our second child, a spirited little boy that brought such joy (and more time commitments) into our home. I started to find myself not making it to the gym as much and finding ways to exercise a few more days a month from home doing things like riding my bike and using kettlebells and using bands that my wife had picked up along the way. I was still able to keep fit and carved out more balance with family in my schedule. I carried on this trend for a few more years, and then it happened, and it happened to all of us. The world went into lockdown. Gyms shut down, EVERYTHING shut down. So now my outlet of the gym which I used for the true resistance training part of my routine was no longer an option. This is where the idea of the HomeStrong Fitness System began. One kettlebell and riding my bike weren’t going to cut it. As mentioned, I had used some of my wife’s bands but I was never really thrilled with the exercises or movements. Putting the anchor under the door or on top of the door at only one point was limiting and awkward. You really couldn’t do a bench press, shoulder press, squats, or dozens of other exercises I liked to do. We found bigger and stronger bands that provided more than enough resistance for a good “workout” but the limitations were still there. So I began tinkering. I tried numerous different things until I came upon the idea that was the basis for what is now the HomeStrong Fitness System. I found that using two sets of bands at anchor points spaced apart was good but adding multiple points from the ground to overhead really nailed it. So, I found a local fabrication shop to make a “prototype”. I say it like this because at first, I had no intention of making this a product. I was simply scratching my own itch. But it worked, and it worked really well. So well that other people I showed it to loved it and wanted one for themselves. that’s when I started thinking that I might just have something here.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Starting HomeStrong Fitness System has been a HUGE leap of faith. Quick backstory… I was going to be a pilot. My dad was a private pilot, all of his friends while I was growing up were pilots. We spent every weekend at the airport restoring and flying WWII aircraft. So I graduated from high school and marched to the enlistment office and signed up to go into the pilot training program for the Air Force. They brought me in to take my first physical, during which I took an eye test… and failed. I had grown up with an astigmatism that never affected my ability to see 20/20 on eye tests but still, it was there. I was devastated. So with that off the table, I went to college for engineering. After coming back to Arizona from college I began working in the construction industry for large residential homebuilders. This was light years from being a pilot and never really excited me but just got me by. Then a couple of my friends started their own companies and that was really intriguing. I decided to go out on my own and began a small contracting company. I ran the business until I found an opportunity to evolve into a bigger contracting company and ultimately became a partner in a local landscape contracting company that was one of the 50 largest landscape companies in the US with annual sales exceeding $50M. In 2021 we had the opportunity, as owners, to sell our ownership shares back to the company so that it could become an ESOP, Employee Stock Ownership Plan / Employee Owned Company. This was an amazing opportunity for the tremendous team of employees that helped us reach these great levels of success and it gave me the opportunity to follow this new dream of bringing affordable, effective fitness into people’s homes and lives.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
As a native Arizonan, I feel there is no better place in the country. Returning home to Arizona after going off to school was a complete no-brainer. We are blessed with such diversity in the region. My family loves heading a couple of hours north to the pines and skiing in the winter, hitting the Colorado River and Lake Havasu to boat in the summer, heading south of the border, and lounging by the beach in Puerto Penasco / Rocky Point Mexico. We are so blessed to have sunny skies and an abundance of things to do right here in our own backyard. I cannot imagine a better place to entertain friends or raise a family. After moving around the Valley a bit, we have settled down in North Phoenix in the Desert Ridge community and absolutely love it for the convenience of shopping, entertainment, and proximity to our kid’s schools. We love our “little bubble” here in Desert Ridge.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
While developing the product and business plan for the HomeStrong Fitness System, I was really in uncharted waters. I had been in the contracting industry my entire life. I had never run a product company or a direct-to-consumer company. So I had to rely heavily on friends and family that had been in this business. My friend Brian Bolerjack is part of an online business CRM SaaS company, Konnektive, and he was instrumental in leading me in the right direction for web design and running an online business. I also had my greatest inspiration and understanding ally in my brother-in-law, Ryan Roberts, who owns Arizona Iron Furniture. Ryan is an amazing businessman and craftsman and assured me that a great product can be made locally and at a competitive price point. Being 100% American-made is something that is very important to me and Arizona Iron Furniture and how Ryan has grown this local business has inspired me to follow in his footsteps. But, last but not least, I have to recognize my wife Jennifer. I went from owning a stable, reliable business to selling it to going all in on this crazy idea. It has been a stressful endeavor, but she supports me and knows that I am building something great for our family’s future.

Website: www.homestrongfitness.com

Instagram: @HomeStrongFitness

Facebook: @HomeStrongFitness

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@homestrongfitness